March 2018

March 30, 2018

Editor's note:Content has been updated to reflect extra Vancouver home games for Rogers Sportsnet 360.

The NHL Network goes with the Rogers Sportsnet feed once again for Hockey Night in Canada with the Montréal Canadiens in Pittsburgh.

CBC starts with the revenge game of Opening Night with the Winnipeg Jets in Toronto. The Battle of Alberta from Calgary is the CBC nightcap.

City TV will show the same game as the CBC in the early slot.

As noted, Rogers Sportsnet runs the Habs in Pittsburgh Saturday night. Hometown Hockey is no April Fool from Montréal with New Jersey in town.

Rogers Sportsnet One gets its share of the Ottawa Senators with a Saturday matinee in the Motor City and barely in the U.S. in Buffalo on Wednesday Night Hockey. The channel also handles the newest desert team in Edmonton on Thursday.

Rogers Sportsnet 360 jumps in at the last moment to take care of the Canucks hosting Columbus late Saturday afternoon. The channel will also carry the final Sedins home game in Vancouver Thursday night.

NHL Network viewers in Pittsburgh will get the CBC feed with the Jets and the Maple Leafs on Saturday night.

The NHL Center Ice free preview continues through this week until the end of the season.

The Barenaked Ladies made the Hockey Night in Canada open. We wrote about this earlier in the week.

---

We were a bit befuddled with the NHL Network switched allegiances to the Montréal Canadiens late in the season. The benefit was having Bob Cole and Garry Galley for the U.S. audience. The drawback was having a less-than-stellar game to call. CBC had the much better game and the U.S. didn't get CBC promos.

---

Rogers has been experimenting with Daren Millard as an ice-level reporter the last couple of weeks in Ottawa. Millard normally induces sleep as the host of Wednesday Night Hockey. The typical Rogers incentive for change is to save money, so we aren't sure of the motivation behind the move. Sean Reynolds and Shawn McKenzie are normally milquetoast in their occasional appearances in that role but you can stay awake when they are on camera.

Speaking of money, Rogers used one of its laid-off employees — Leah Hextall — in calling the Clarkson Cup. The massive layoffs affected half of the on-air women on the Rogers telecasts: Hextall along with Chantal Desjardins.

The NHL Network continues to butcher the opening to Coach's Corner. Depending on the schedule, the NHL Network will only have 1-2 more times to mess this up.

March 29, 2018

The outfield on either side of Kevin Pillar feels different. Up the middle in the infield feels very new but hoping for more appearances from "old" players. The 2018 Toronto Blue Jays are strong at catcher, 1st base, 3rd base, and centre field. Short of brilliance elsewhere, the potential for the 2018 season is cautious.

Starting pitching, what every team wants, is an ace for the Blue Jays with potential for the bullpen.

Troy Tulowitzki will start the season on the shelf. Devon Travis will hopefully be healthy at 2nd base. Yangervis Solarte, Danny Espinosa, and Aledmys Diaz are new and will help. They essentially replace Ryan Goins and Darwin Barney.

Pillar in centre, Russell Martin behind the plate, Josh Donaldson at 3rd base, Justin Smoak at 1st with Kendry Morales as DH is a pretty good core. But they need a lot of help.

Jose Bautista could help but teams aren't pounding on the door to sign him. Bautista can offer a better bat (if he doesn't have to lead off), a killer arm in right, a good teammate, and lots of versatility.

Lefty J.A. Happ will be the Blue Jays opening day starter followed in the rotation by Aaron Sanchez, Marco Estrada, Marcus Stroman and Jaime Garcia. John Axford (Canadian), Seung-hwan Oh, and Tyler Clippard are new to the Blue Jays bullpen. Roberto Osuna is still the closer.

Josh Donaldson is playing on the final year of his contract. Manager John Gibbons may need some luck and miracles.

As for the future of grass at Rogers Centre, installation and ongoing maintenance costs are reportedly the concern. The priority will be placed on other improvements at Rogers Centre. Forbes recently ranked Rogers Centre as MLB's 9th-worst stadium.

Best of luck to those vying for the play by play position for Blue Jays radioIt's not going to be meI look forward to hearing whoever gets the gigBlessed to co host the best sports morning show in the country@BradyandPrice

The sudden retirement of Jerry Howarth after 36 years and the promotion of Joe Siddall to TV studio analyst to replace the disgraced Gregg Zaun means a whole new radio booth for the Blue Jays in 2018.

The logical replacement for Howarth was Elliott Price, former Montréal Expos announcer and current morning show co-host of Sportsnet radio 590 The Fan. Price wasn't a factor for whatever reason.

The Blue Jays went to the bench in spring training, using a couple of their minor-league announcers to call some of Toronto's spring training games. Ben Wagner (Triple AAA Buffalo Bisons) and Rob Fai (Single A Vancouver Canadians) got to help out Mike Wilner, the lone member of the Blue Jays radio team from 2017. Former Blue Jays pitcher Scott Richmond, a Vancouver native, helped out on colour analysis on spring training broadcasts.

The team went with Wagner to call the Blue Jays on radio along with Wilner in 2018. Wagner had spent the last 11 years as the voice of the Bisons. Dan Shulman will call some games on radio. There will be analysts but we don't know who or when they will be on the broadcasts.

On the TV side, Buck Martinez and Pat Tabler will also be on the Blue Jays telecasts once again. Shulman will be more visible in the broadcast booth, calling 50 games this season. Shulman left his role as play-by-play guy on Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN to spend more time in Toronto.

Rogers Sportsnet will have all but 2 games. Some games will air on Rogers Sportsnet One, especially during the Stanley Cup playoffs. Facebook Watch will have the games on April 18 and May 24. Those will not have Sportsnet announcers nor will air on TV in Canada.

The Blue Jays TV studio show will feature Jamie Campbell and Siddall in his new role with help from former MLB players Cliff Floyd and Kevin Barker will fill in as guest analysts.

Justin Morneau, one of the best ever Canadian MLB players, has retired. Morneau played 14 seasons in the major leagues and won the American League MVP in 2006. Morneau will do 6 Minnesota Twins games as a TV analyst.

The 2018 Toronto Blue Jays home opener is this afternoon at 3:37 pm Eastern against the New York Yankees. The Yankees will stay in Toronto for a Friday night game (7:07 pm); Saturday afternoon (4:07 pm); and Easter Sunday (1:07 pm). The Chicago White Sox finish off the homestand with Monday-Wednesday evening games all starting at 7:07 pm. In terms of the MLB Extra Innings free preview, the Blue Jays are in Texas April 6-8 with a pair of night games (8:05 pm) and a Sunday afternoon contest (3:05 pm).

We never have too much information about Blue Jays telecasts in the United States. ESPN should have one telecast but does not have one listed so far. The Blue Jays will be on MLB Network Friday against the Yankees as well as the primary game on April 19 and 21. Fox Sports 1 will call the Oakland A's game at Toronto on May 19. The April 18 game at home to Kansas City will be on Facebook.

Saturday home matinee games will be divided in start times: 9 will be moved to 4:07 pm while 4 Saturday day games start at 1:07 pm.

Montréal native Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got 2 standing ovations Monday night and the final standing ovation Tuesday night with a walkoff home run. The Toronto Blue Jays split the 2018 series at Olympic Stadium with the St. Louis Cardinals. St. Louis posted a 5-3 win Monday night.

Guerrero Jr. got a surprise when he was given his father's #27 to wear in the 2-game series in La Belle Province. Despite a hot spring, Guerrero Jr. will not start with the Blue Jays, likely to start in AA.

Hometown guy Russell Martin, the Blue Jays starting catcher, also received a warm reception during the series.

Teoscar Hernandez went 2-for-2 with a RBI triple and scored in the 7th and a RBI single in the 8th inning Monday night. The Blue Jays had 3 hits on Tuesday, including the Guerrero Jr. walkoff home run.

Marcus Stroman had a solid start Monday night though he gave up 2 runs toward the end of his start. Joe Biagini threw 5 scoreless innings in the combined shutout.

"If the Montréal experiment ever suffers a setback, 2018 may be that year."

Attendance was off but expected with games on Monday and Tuesday. The attendance figures were still impressive with a less-than-ideal opponent. If a new Montréal Expos team could draw 25,000 on a weeknight for a regular season game in a new downtown stadium, everyone would be impressed.

The 2018 combined attendance was 51,151. The Saturday attendance in 2017 was 52,202.

There was some harsh coverage from Toronto reporters that focused on the lower attendance as well as the transition in Montréal city power from exuberant baseball fan Denis Coderre to new mayor Valerie Plante last November. Plante hasn't been nearly as warm to the idea of a downtown stadium, a necessity in returning MLB to Montréal.

Wearing @VladGuerrero27's number. On the field at the Big O. Playing the game they both love.

The lack of enthusiasm extended to the TV coverage of the games. The MLB Network tape-delayed coverage from Monday night was miserable. The channel worked hard to scrub any visible presence of fans wearing Montréal Expos clothing in the crowd. The MLB Network even cut out of the bottom of the 4th inning to fit the game in a 3-hour window.

As the U.S. audience saw Tuesday night, the Rogers Sportsnet crew was less than enthused about being in Montréal. Buck Martinez and Pat Tabler interviewed John Wetteland Monday night but otherwise barely mentioned the Expos or Montréal.

March 27, 2018

If I had a million dollars, I could spend that money on reuniting the Barenaked Ladies with Steven Page. The induction of the Barenaked Ladies into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame did bring back Page and the band for one night for the 2018 Junos Sunday night in Vancouver.

Steven Page left the band in 2009 in what were uncertain circumstances. While the Barenaked Ladies continue to produce music and Page has a solo career, both elements have not had the success that existed when they were together. The Barenaked Ladies are celebrating 30 years, but in the lead up to Sunday, the focus was on the first 20 years.

As the band members have said, the performing part hasn't been the issue. Everyone looked comfortable playing One Week and If I Had $1000000. Both of those songs played well off the banter between Page and Ed Robertson, who have known each other since Page was in Grade 5 and Robertson in Grade 4. Yet until the induction, they hadn't spoken in 9 years.

Geddy Lee of Rush helped to induct the band into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in a wonderful tribute. Page and Robertson were joined on stage by band members Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, and Tyler Stewart. Andy Creeggan, brother of Jim, was the other former member who were there at the 2018 Junos.

The 2018 Junos preshow with Tom Power had the Q host interviewing Page and Robertson separately about how the band got started and the point when Page left the band. If you are looking for the quick summation for the split, you'll be disappointed.

The closest you get to an answer is when Page told Power, "We weren't on the same page with what we wanted to do next. And you know, I don't think any of us wanted to do it together."

While the Barenaked Ladies still do If I Had $1000000, Page has dropped the song from his shows. So while Sunday's night version went a bit overboard, hearing 5 members do that song is a rare treat indeed and reminded fans of what once was and why there was a celebration.

The fact that none of the interviews were done together is a sign of a freeze colder than winters in their native Scarborough, Ontario.

This friction sadly was remnant of David St. Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel in Spinal Tap. Eventually, they figured it out but that was just a movie.

The Barenaked Ladies spoke poetic on the impact of Hockey Night in Canada and tied in their song Canada Dry. The 4 current members of the band showed off the sweaters of the 4 home teams that were on Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday. Ed Robertson held up the Ottawa Senators sweater but wouldn't wear it "because we're Leafs fans."

Besides watching the Barenaked Ladies play live again with their best lineup, the other nice element is that we do have a slightly better understanding of where the band members are at this point. Like any emotional breakup, the wounds are still fairly deep. Robertson and Page both described the renewed communications as awkward but reasonably pleasant. And unlike quite a few bands that get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Barenaked Ladies band members did reunite and play together.

The 20 years the band had together was more than enough to justify the band's existence into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. The celebration allowed us to go back and see a young quirky band that made its way by selling cassette tapes. Like very few Canadian bands, the Barenaked Ladies kept their Canadian identity but translate well to the United States and the world. The Barenaked Ladies sing about Canada and they haven't cared if Americans or anyone else has to look up what Kraft Dinner means.

Regardless of the 2018 status and what may be in the future for Page and the band, we have a lot of great songs from a band that always seemed joyful: the Barenaked Ladies.

If you missed the performance, you can watch the segment and you don't have to be in Canada to watch.

March 26, 2018

If the Montréal experiment ever suffers a setback, 2018 may be that year.

The games are on a Monday and Tuesday of Easter week instead of a Friday and Saturday. The St. Louis Cardinals, the Toronto Blue Jays 2018 opponent, don't have a significant connection to the Montréal Expos.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette are on the roster in Montréal. The senior Guerrero won't be in Montréal for "family reasons." The timing is a shame since Guerrero will be enshrined into the Baseball Hall of Fame this summer.

Josh Donaldson and Devon Travis won't be in Montréal due to concerns over potential injuries thanks to the carpet at Olympic Stadium.

Toronto Blue Jays at Olympic Stadium in Montréal

Date

Opponent

Score

Attendance

April 1, 2017

Pittsburgh

Toronto 6-4

52,202

March 31, 2017

Pittsburgh

Tie 1-1

43,180

April 2, 2016

Boston

Boston 7-4

53,420

April 1, 2016

Boston

Boston 4-2 (10)

52,682

April 4, 2015

Cincinnati

Toronto 9-1

50,231

April 3, 2015

Cincinnati

Cincinnati 2-0

46,314

March 29, 2014

NY Mets

Toronto 2-0

50,229

March 28, 2014

NY Mets

Toronto 5-4

46,121

Marcus Stroman is expected to start Monday's game in Montréal.

The Toronto Blue Jays are 4-3-1 in the series, but as we all know, these games don't count in the regular standings. The 2018 Toronto Blue Jays home opener is Thursday afternoon against the New York Yankees.

Monday's game will compete directly with the Montréal Canadiens home game against Detroit. Then again, Stade Olympique might be a better environment than the Centre Bell, given the Habs woes this season.

Elliott Price will help out on the Toronto Blue Jays radio feed in Montréal. Price used to call Montréal Expos games but isn't being considered to replace Jerry Howarth on play by play.

Both games will air live on Rogers Sportsnet in Canada. MLB Network will carry the Monday telecast on a tape-delayed basis at 6 am Eastern on Tuesday morning. The U.S. channel will carry Tuesday's game live at 7 pm Eastern.

March 23, 2018

The NHL Network goes with a curveball taking the Rogers Sportsnet feed as Alex Ovechkin and his Capitals are in La Belle Province to battle the Habs.

The CBC starts out Saturday with the Original 6 game featuring the Detroit Red Wings at the Air Canada Centre. The Los Angeles Kings are in Edmonton in the nightcap.

City TV gets its own game with the Ottawa Senators hosting Carolina.

Rogers Sportsnet carries Alex Ovechkin and his Capitals visit the Habs in Montréal. Hometown Hockey is from Bathurst, NB and has a pair of simultaneous games with Vancouver at Dallas on SNP and Nashville at Winnipeg on Rogers Sportsnet 360 as well as SNE, SNO, and SNW. Wednesday Night Hockey has the Sunrise team in Toronto.

Rogers Sportsnet One has a pair of games with Anaheim in Edmonton late on Sunday and an all-Canadian matchup where the Edmonton Oilers are in Vancouver on Thursday.

NHL Network viewers in the U.S. capital will get the CBC feed with the Red Wings and the Maple Leafs on Saturday night.

Rogers Sportsnet 360

NHL Center Ice

The Montréal Canadiens finally got some love on the Rogers pregame. The Habs have had a horrible season but Rogers went out of its way to ignore the team. The focus was on the young players, a topic that was briefly covered on NBCSN 2 nights previous.

The pregame spent way more time on Columbus than Ottawa, but the Senators did get a peck on the cheek.

Tomas Plekanec was the focus for a Christine Simpson interview. Plekanec played his first game against the Habs in his career on Saturday night. Simpson noted that if Plekanec plays all the remaining games, he will be at 999 games at the end of the season. As difficult as playing against the Canadiens might be, the Leafs won't play in Montréal for the rest of the season.

The NHL Network once again clipped the beginning of Coach's Corner. This is getting sad and ridiculous. The channel runs the same ads over and over.

---

Kraft Hockeyville is down to the final 4 Canadian cities: High River, AB; Lafleche, SK; Lucan, ON; and Huntingdon, QC. We'll know which city will get the honour in 8 days.

March 21, 2018

Canada is full of weirdos, says a character identified as Not Andy Warhol in the film Weirdos. Given that only Kit (Dylan Authors) can see this character, we can classify that as one of the weirdo parts of the film.

Bruce McDonald brings us back to a black-and-white vision on July 3-4, 1976 in eastern Nova Scotia. Kit and Alice (Julia Sarah Stone) are going from Antigosh to Sydney. The premise is there is a party in Sydney, but Kit wants to live in Sydney with his eccentric mother (Molly Parker).

McDonald also brings us back to that time with a wonderful Canadian carefree soundtrack that includes Edward Bear, Gordon Lightfoot, and Anne Murray. As we see and hear, McDonald makes the music part of the cast.

Alice keeps wishing for good bye sex or hello sex. Kit is more interested in a boy he meets when they are hitchhiking. The Not Andy Warhol offers advice to Kit, who wants to spend more time with his mother and her amazing stories, such as meeting the real Andy Warhol.

McDonald keeps the mood light even as we find out certain things from characters and why Kit's mother may not be in the best place to raise him. The combination of McDonald as director, Daniel MacIvor as screenwriter, and Molly Parker on screen is a combination we've seen before in a few incarnations so there is a familiarity and chemistry that is smoother than butter.

The idea of watching the U.S. bicentennial perhaps on a black and white TV is tied into a subplot that goes into how little people know about Khmer Rouge. While this might seem an odd twist in a laid-back kind of story, the two teenage characters learn a lot about themselves and the world in the 2-day adventure.

This is the fourth film I've seen that has featured Julia Sarah Stone. She carries a lot of emotion in her face and is fun to watch on the screen. Her character's awkwardness is less severe than we saw in either The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom or Wet Bum, but Alice has a lot going on inside. Even the way she smokes cigarettes says a lot.

Allan Hawco does a really nice job in a more humble role as Kit's dad. Cathy Jones of This Hour Has 22 Minutes is really good as Kit's grandmother. The authenticity of actors from that part in Canada does lend more credibility.

Molly Parker is a force in everything she does but especially so in the good hands of McDonald and MacIvor. Trigger is another good collaborative example. You may see this film twice just to grasp the whole of her performance.

Weirdos reminded me of a few connections to previous efforts. Parker also explored the 1976 theme in a limited run U.S. TV show called Swingtown. Parker was in Marion Bridge set in Nova Scotia also written by MacIvor. McDonald has done his share of road trips, especially Highway 61.

March 20, 2018

American citizens are headed to the polls this spring not to vote for the politicians who will be/remain in office but to pick which politicians will run in November. Canadian voters rely on their parties to pick their party nominees.

As a recent example, in the Ontario Progressive Conservatives leadership race, the regular voters didn't get a chance to nominate someone. The party dues paying members were the ones who got to vote.

As someone who have written about politics on both sides of the border, here's a compare and contrast with the voting responsibilities of their citizens.

Governor — Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick will vote in elections this year that will produce premiers, but Canadians don't directly elect premiers. The party leader with the most members of provincial parliament (MPP) (or who can form government) gets to be premier.Lieutenant Governor — The Canadian version is appointed as the representative of the Queen. The U.S. version is the successor should something happen to the governor.Secretary of State — Canadians don't have an equivalent to this title. In some U.S. states, this person is the successor should something happen to the governor.Attorney General — The Minister of Justice is part of the cabinet of the premier. That person is also a member of parliament.Comptroller/Treasurer — There is no Canadian equivalent to this title and certainly not someone who is elected.U.S. Representative — This comes up every 2 years in the United States but 4 years in Canada. U.S. voters have to vote twice, once in the primary and then again in November. Many of the Congressional races have little to any opposition due to gerrymandering of districts.U.S. Senator — Each state gets 2 senators and they serve for 6 years, so not every election has a race in this category. Canadian senators are appointed not elected.State Representative — The state representatives run every 2 years. You vote for your MPP every 4 years. The MPPs vote for who becomes premier.State Senator — None of the Canadian provinces have a Senate. In the U.S., state senators are elected every 2 years.Judges — U.S. voters vote for local judges. Canadian voters aren't involved in the process.

There are county races that are similar in vein between the 2 countries.

This is not a presidential year; otherwise, there would be a space for presidential candidates. You can only vote in one party. Some states require you to be registered with a specific party to vote in that party's primary.

Canadians don't vote for prime minister. They vote for members of Parliament (MPs). Similar to the premier, the party leader with the most MPs (or who can form government) gets to be prime minister.

Citizens from each side can look across the border and see advantages. Canadians can see where more power rests in the individual American voter. Americans can see fewer races and fewer elections in Canada.

Given that premiers and prime ministers also have to be part of the legislative branch makes having "mavericks" less likely to run a province or the country.

Canadians are more likely to elect governments that are accountable since they have full power. Americans have more of a checks-and-balances system that feels more theoretical than what we currently see.

Being registered to vote in Canada is a lot easier; keeping your right to vote in Canada is virtually ironclad. Elections Canada has the strength to run elections in a fair manner. There were shenanigans in 2011 linked back to the Conservatives with phone calls telling voters their voting place had been switched when that wasn't true.

March 17, 2018

We do have a Trade Deficit with Canada, as we do with almost all countries (some of them massive). P.M. Justin Trudeau of Canada, a very good guy, doesn’t like saying that Canada has a Surplus vs. the U.S.(negotiating), but they do...they almost all do...and that’s how I know!

After a back and forth on whether the U.S. has a trade deficit, Trump said. "He said, 'Nope, we have no trade deficit.' I said, 'Well, in that case, I feel differently,' I said, 'but I don’t believe it.'"

The U.S. ran a $2.77 billion surplus with Canada for 2017, according to the Commerce Department. Trump mentions a $17 billion trade deficit figure thanks to "energy and timber" on the tape. The Commerce Department figures include oil and timber. Facts are facts. Feeling differently is not based on facts.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has been including goods that pass through Canada but don't originate here as Canadian exports in his export calculations, artificially inflating the U.S.'s trade deficit in goods with Canada, sources told CBC back in February.

For example, a Chinese washing machine that passes through the port of Vancouver on its way to the U.S. is being counted as part of both the U.S. trade deficit with China and the U.S. goods deficit with Canada.

Maybe not fake news, but clearly fake numbers, if the sources information is correct.

The proposed tariff on steel and aluminum did send flutters through the Canadian steel and aluminum industries. Canada now has a waiver on the proposed tariffs. but this unsettling manner is disruptive to business on both sides of the border.

A prime example of the unsettling manner is Trump's blackmail statement that the tariffs would disappear if he got what he wanted in a new NAFTA deal. Kudos to Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, who is leading the NAFTA negotiations for Canada for standing their ground.

Trump has held out the threat of discarding NAFTA over Canada's head during the negotiations. The U.S. trade people have thrown in outlandish requests by every objective standard. Like or hate NAFTA, there is a bipartisan coalition in Congress that will not let go of NAFTA. Unlike Mexico, if NAFTA disappeared, the two countries would go back to the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement. Former PM Brian Mulroney was on the task of building both agreements and is on Trudeau's team in the negotiations.

Trump also has a phobia about multi-country agreements whereas Canada has a new trade deal with the European Union and a new and improved Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).

The negotiation trade agreements is a complex concept. Trump doesn't deal well with the simplest concepts such as telling the truth on trade deficits.

CBC

City

SaturdayOttawa @ Columbus, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet

SundayDallas @ Winnipeg, 7:30pWednesdayMontréal @ Pittsburgh, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet 360

SundayCalgary @ Las Vegas, 4pWednesdayAnaheim @ Calgary, 9:30p

---

The U.S. got its jingoistic pride event in the previous weekend. Canada got some love with the J. Miles Dale Oscars open. The Olympics got some love with Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir at the Air Canada Centre.

Canadian Olympic champion Penny Oleksiak was in the crowd, though her incentive was watching her brother defenceman Jamie Oleksiak of the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins. The younger Oleksiak won a gold, silver, and 2 bronze medals in the 2016 Summer Olympics.

---

The NHL Network didn't run the Rogers pregame, choosing to run their studio show following an all-U.S. game. Didn't need to check if the pregame ignored the Montréal Canadiens since they didn't play Saturday night.

---

The NHL Network missed the first 30 seconds of Coach's Corner. The people running the board should know that there is a bumper followed by a ad followed by a bumper. Show us the final bumper and you won't miss a thing.

Don Cherry went out of his way to praise Cal Clutterbuck for a good play in what looked like a cheap shot on Auston Matthews. Given how long Matthews has been out with that injury doesn't lend praise for the hit.

---

Chris Cuthbert worked a pair of games this week for NBCSN on Tuesday in St. Paul and Wednesday at Madison Square Garden. NBCSN gave AJ Mleczko another shot on Tuesday.

NBCSN finally got smart to use Gord Miller in Montréal but unfortunately stuck him with Brian Boucher. Miller and Mleczko would have been a lot better.

Susan Sarandon shared the Inside the Glass portion with Pierre McGuire for part of Wednesday's game on NBCSN. This is only worth mentioning because Sarandon is in the new Xavier Dolan upcoming film The Death and Life of John F. Donovan. And that Sarandon would be a better analyst than Boucher.

---

Vancouver Canucks fans in the United States have been a bit frustrated this season. What was Comcast Sports Northwest (now NBC Sports Northwest) carried a number of games via Rogers Sportsnet Pacific in the past few years but that contract came to an end before this season. KZJO, channel 22 out of Seattle known as Joe TV, is carrying a few Vancouver Canucks games down the stretch. The Tribune Broadcasting station is using the Rogers Sportsnet Pacific feed.

Canucks fans in Seattle and parts north can still see a few games via CBC (CBUT Vancouver). The experiment with Joe TV may run into complications since the Tribune stations are likely to be bought out by the evil Sinclair company (not using the word evil lightly) and may transfer ownership since the Tribune also owns KCPQ and Sinclair already owns KOMO and KUNS-TV, all in Seattle.

The CBC promos were back for the U.S. audience for the first time since before the 2018 Olympics. The 2018 Junos will be March 25 in Vancouver with Michael Bublé as host. Not mentioned in the promos is that the Barenaked Ladies will perform with Steven Page because the band is getting inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

The event in Edmonton was ice cross downhill, which looks like speed skating meets something.